The Good News is that I don’t have to clean the Charge Air Cooler or go fishing for that resonator pipe gasket I lost into the system.

The Bad News is that’s because the Charge Air Cooler has a leak. Removing it in the Texas heat with no shade but my drover hat was an unfun experience.

I’d pressure tested the whole system, and never heard any hissing from there. I blame the cidadas. I didn’t do much soapy water testing on the cooler, because I couldn’t reach the whole thing. However, I should have spayed what I could get to:

That big greasy, grimy spot in the corner is a classic tell-tale of a turbo pressure leak.

Most of the process of getting it off seemed to be covered by the FSM, but I could not for the life of me find the part that talked about the huge plastic fender that mates with the radiator, etc. I finally had to wing it.

My inherent laziness realized that if there was actually a leak, cleaning and playing Fishing for Gaskets would be a waste of time, so I decided to pressure test first, not realizing it would literally be the path of least resistance. I used the same plug and adapter I use on the entire system:

Once I was 6 hours into the project, that greasy spot finally caught my attention and I sprayed it with soapy water.

…and got bubbles at the grease stain.

Just ordered a new one for over $300 with shipping. While I can’t stop myself from being excited I found another stubborn leak, but I’m no longer making the reckless assumption this means I’ll never see another low boost code again.